Intellectual Property

No Entrance to Legal Paradise: D.C. Court of Appeals Affirms Denial of Copyright Registration for AI-Generated Artwork

The Court’s ruling is consistent with longstanding law, reaffirming that works exclusively created by AI are ineligible for copyright protection. While this opinion ultimately leaves more nuanced “line-drawing” questions for another day, authors of AI-generated works are likely to continue to register their works with the Copyright Office and engage in legal fights to determine…

Dua Lipa Wins Summary Judgement in Levitating Copyright Infringement Case

While acknowledging that “it is possible that a ‘layperson’ could listen to portions of Plaintiffs’ and Defendants’ songs and hear similarities,” Judge Katherine Polk Failla concluded that “there can be no substantial similarity (and thus no copyright violation) as a matter of law, because ‘the similarity between the works concerns only non-copyrightable elements of the…

Judge Grants Summary Judgment Against Fair Use Defense in AI Context

It is still early to predict what impact this case will have on the pending infringement cases against OpenAI and other generative AI companies. But Judge Bibas’s recognition of a “AI training data market” will certainly be cited by plaintiffs in those cases.   

Ninth Circuit Reverses Copyright Lawsuit Against Aritzia, Opening Up Possibility of Copyright Protection for Kinetic Sculpture

The Ninth Circuit noted that “copyrightability of kinetic and manipulable sculptures” is “an area of copyright law that has not yet received much attention” and “may be better informed with a more complete factual record.”

Court Applies Rogers v. Grimaldi to Dismiss Trademark Case Over Book Cover and Use of Photographs

In a ruling reaffirming the vitality of the Rogers v. Grimaldi test on motions to dismiss, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging the bestselling memoir Surviving to Drive, authored by Formula 1 racing figure Guenther Steiner, infringed the trademarks of a corporate sponsor.

George Santos Loses Cameo Copyright Case

Santos sued after the show Jimmy Kimmel Live! used short videos of Santos saying absurd things in exchange for money on the site Cameo—videos that Kimmel allegedly tricked Santos into making. The defendants moved to dismiss Santos’ complaint on the grounds that they made a fair use of Santos’ videos.

Copyright Law Used to Deny Access to Covenant School Shooter’s Manifesto

Vidal v. Elster, or, What Happens When the Supreme Court Lacks a Fundamental Theory of the First Amendment

The Court’s struggle to find a deciding principle stems directly from the siloing of First Amendment law into discrete doctrines – public forums, government benefits, and so on. The fact that this case did not neatly fit into these categories is what led Justice Thomas to abandon logic for history, Justice Kavanaugh to give up…

Federal Court Holds That Copyright Act Preempts X’s Web Scraping Claims

In a blockbuster ruling that is bound to have far-reaching implications, including in the swarm of copyright infringement cases brought against AI platforms, a California federal court recently dismissed a complaint that X Corp. brought against web scraping company Bright Data.

Supreme Court Provides for Broader Availability of Damages in Copyright Suits

The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, No. 22-1078, holding that damages are available under the Copyright Act for acts of infringement that predate the initiation of suit by more than three years.